"We are still short" - Stoke City transfer concerns raised | OneFootball

Our Potters fan pundit thinks the club should have signed a new winger in the winter window

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Stoke City's winter transfer window has not gone how many supporters would have expected it to, with just two loan signings across the month due to the Potters' potential financial fair play (FFP) restrictions.

The Potters began January with the exciting announcement that Mark Robins was set to take over as manager following Narcis Pelach's mid-December sacking, and while there has been a marked improvement in terms of performances on the pitch, it does feel as if his squad is short in numerous areas.

That would be fine if Stoke had enjoyed a better first-half of the season and were mid-table in the Championship, but that is not the case, as they sit in 18th place as it stands, just five points above the relegation zone, so they have taken somewhat of a gamble to not add more new faces over the last four weeks.

Stoke City failure to sign new winger in January could cost the Potters dearly

The Potters' two signings in the winter window were Ali Al-Hamadi and Josh Wilson-Esbrand, each on loan deals from Ipswich Town and Manchester City respectively, while Lewis Baker, Nathan Lowe and Ryan Mmaee were recalled early from their temporary spells with Blackburn Rovers, Walsall and Rapid Vienna.

Robins did not sanction a single permanent exit from his first-team squad, but Niall Ennis was loaned out to League One outfit Blackpool, while the most important bit of business involving the Potters saw top-scorer Tom Cannon recalled by Leicester City.

With the window closed, the former Coventry boss now has a confirmed squad of players to choose from as he aims to guide his side to survival in the second-tier, yet still has numerous injury and form issues to contend with, and our Stoke fan pundit,

Daniel Buxton, believes that the club should have signed a new winger ahead of the coming months, after we asked him for one thing he wished the Potters had done over the last month.

“I wish we had got another winger in. We have been playing Lynden Gooch out wide recently, while Andre Vidigal does not seem to be in the plans with any of our managers these days," Daniel told FLW.

“Million Manhoef is injured until March too, so we are really light.

“Obviously we’ve done a bit of trading striker-wise, bringing two strikers that were out on loan back to the club, with one of them injured until March in Ryan Mmaee.

“We’ve got Al-Hamadi in and got rid of a couple of strikers, so have done a bit of trading there, but in the wide areas we are still short.

“We’ve got literally only Bae Jun-ho on the left side, then Lewis Koumas down the right.

“If one of those two gets injured then we will be forced into a ‘square peg in round hole’ kind-of scenario.”

Stoke have left themselves short in wide attacking areas for rest of 2024-25

Heading into the new year, Stoke were in real need of new attacking reinforcements for the second-half of the season, yet they look to have arguably come out of the window in a slightly worse position in terms of their talent and reliability in attack.

Cannon's recall was a big blow, so while Tractor Boys loanee Al-Hamadi netted on his debut against Hull City, and Lowe has impressed in his first few weeks back in ST4, neither are as proven scorers in the second-tier as the Leicester man, and could each hit respective rocky patches over the next few months.

In terms of wingers, it seemed like a given that Robins would look to strengthen in that position after being hired at the start of the month, yet with the window now closed, no new, much-needed additions have been made.

The Potters have been without star man Million Manhoef for over six weeks now, after he suffered medial collateral ligament damage against Cardiff City in mid-December, and their attacking form has taken a dip since, with the club now the lowest scorers in the Championship with just 28 strikes as a team in 30 league games so far.

The likes of Liverpool loanee Lewis Koumas and last season's Player of the Year Bae Jun-ho have played consistently over the course of the campaign, but have each struggled at times and been relied on too heavily, while Andre Vidigal has been massively out-of-favour and Sam Gallagher is an option out wide, but has been injured more often than not.

As a result of that predicament, utility man Lynden Gooch, midfielder Andrew Moran, and even new full-back recruit Wilson-Esbrand have all featured on the wing at times over recent months, which is not ideal for a team that needs to score goals to stay up this season.

Stoke have taken a gamble on Manhoef being back fit soon by not delving into the market for a new winger signing, because they are clearly very short in wide attacking areas on both the left and right side, and that could come back to bite them if they suffer more injuries and are relegated to League One come May.